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When Maribella left to add sprinkles to the bill, Kennedy said, “I’m all ears, Cash.”
“Are you two familiar withSmall Town Smorgasbord?” I asked them.
“That’s the show you think Henry’s should be on,” Seth said.
“I’ve seen it a couple of times,” Kennedy said. “I completely agree. That would be incredible.” She added the name to her notes. “I can research how to be featured.”
“I’ve researched it,” I told her, “and until now, there wasn’t an official way for a restaurant owner to get their attention. They seemed to go by word of mouth, but there was no way to tell who their sources were.”
“That’s changed?” Seth asked.
“It has. The show’s grown in popularity, and it’s a hotter ticket than ever before. They have ads running for some new campaign for restaurants to get featured.”
I explained to them what I knew after seeing the ads and scouring their website for details. The first step was posting on social media using the right hashtags and telling the producers what made our restaurant worth the trip. Photos of signature dishes were recommended.
“The Southern shrimp and grits,” Seth suggested, looking at me. “Made with Golden Sunshine Wheat beer,” he explained to Kennedy. “The lager pork chili would be good… The beer-battered walleye and roasted asparagus makes a pretty picture too.”
I nodded. “Or there’s the brisket.”
Kennedy had her phone out and looked to be searching social media for the hashtag. “It’s a good thing I’m not hungry—” She let out a gasp and tapped on her phone. “The Cove at the Marks is here.”
“Here?” I asked, leaning forward, my pulse speeding up as my competition mode was ignited. The Marks was the brand-new hotel down the shore from Henry’s. The Cove was the restaurant inside. It was the only other place in town with a trained chef, Nola Simms.
“Posting with the hashtag already, saying why they should be onSmall Town Smorgasbord,” Kennedy reported.
“Hell no. If anyone from this town gets on the show, it’s going to be Henry’s,” I vowed. “We’ve been here for decades. They’ve barely set up shop.”
Nola Simms was admittedly good, but that didn’t mean I wanted her hogging the national spotlight on the show I’d dreamed of being featured on since its debut.
“I figured they’d be some friendly competition, but I didn’t foresee them being a problem this fast,” Seth said, leaning his elbows on the table. He shook his head like it didn’t compute, which was my opinion exactly.
“I’m not about to let them waltz in here with their corporate budget and new restaurant and steal our opportunity,” I said.
“You need to get your pitches out there right away,” Kennedy said. She had her phone out and was tapping and swiping in a frenzy. “If you decide to hire me, I can help.”
While her eyes were on her phone, Seth met my gaze with a questioning look. I gave a subtle but adamant nod.
“We’re hiring you,” Seth said.
Kennedy’s head popped up and she looked from him to me. She must have seen we were serious as a heart attack, because a grin spread across her face. “Awesome. Let’s do this,” she said. “And let’s start by doing everything we can to get the show producers’ attention. We need to get high-quality food photos ASAP and the best, most enticing copy on the planet, which I can help with. Do you have a food photographer you use?”
I’d nevernotliked this girl, but right now, I wanted to stand up and hug her and swing her around for jumping in with zero hesitation.
“We’ve mostly done it ourselves but if you know a professional—”
“I’ve got a guy. I’ll see if he can get out here… When could you have at least three dishes camera-ready?”
I glanced at my smart watch, ran through our options for which dishes to use, and did some calculations. “I could have them ready this afternoon, before the dinner service. Or any day this week,” I added as I realized getting someone to Henry’s that fast was a long shot.
“Like three p.m.?” Kennedy asked. “Would that give you enough time to prepare, say, six options?” Her thumbs were flying over her phone screen as she appeared to be sending a message to someone—her photography guy?
“I can do three o’clock, but are you sure you can?”
“I’ll postpone the meeting I had at one. We could go to Henry’s right now and you can tell me more about the dishes so I can start tailoring some copy for the social media posts. If you guys are up for it.”
“I need to run home and change,” I said. “You want to take her in?” I asked my brother. We normally had a Monday morning meeting, so I was pretty sure he had the time if we canceled that.
“I’m ready as soon as we cash out,” Seth said. “Kennedy and I can head over and start on the hard part.”
